THC extraction??

[Papa Verine]

Hey all,

I stumbled upon several large (7 feet+ tall) Cannabis Sativa plants while out exploring suburbia. At first I was pretty excited, but soon realized this particular strain is practically devoid of any THC. It's what is commonly referred to as "ditchweed" or hemp. On the females their aren't even any buds, just clusters of seeds where the buds should be. Some of you may be unfortunate enough to be familiar with the CRAP I'm talking about.

So, anyway, I got to thinking... Is there some way to take a couple pounds of this stuff and extract a useable amount of THC from it? I was thinking of the "Honey Hash Oil" method with liquid butane... maybe?

What do you guys think? All I want to do is see if it's possible... say this stuff contains 0.1% to 0.2% THC (I think that's a good estimate) to extract it and get something worth smoking out of it... to get high once. I think it'd be fun.

[Voyager]

Well, I doubt you can do that.
I mean, those plants even if they have any THC in them, the concentration of it should be no more than 0.3%. That's pretty low.
I have done the THC extraction a lot of times, mostly with Isopropyl-Alcohol.
But even if you want to extract any THC from those, you would need to pick up round 10 kilos of it, then buy enough isopropyl-alcohol or any other solvent (which does not live the toxic residue behind), find a very large dish to put all that into, and do that extraction.
I really think that you should just forget it, because it is too way complicated.

[Dan Steely]

I could be wrong but I think you would just wind up making a mess and wasting your time but then I'm not a fan of hash oil anyway.

[KiloByte]

Definitely not worth it. Anyway it's not like pot is THAT expensive, use your time to scrape together 20 bucks and get yourself a bag of some real sticky.

[dharma bum]

Sounds cool PV. Go for it wildman.

[OxyContinuously]

PapaV!!

how's it hangin'? i've been keeping up w/ your trials and tribulations about tryin to abstain from the seed tea, and was just wondering how that's going for you??

i know damn well that seed and or poppy pod tea/decoctions are harder to withdraw from than street diesel, just because of the myriad alkaloids present...i think u were saying u went a couple days CT then the WD became too terrible to bear!! (trust me, i know how awful that can be ;-)

but anyway, about your question,, sure, you can definitely extract the THC from those plants...they're the long, very dark green with a bunch of leaves,, and no buds? you're 100 percent right about the thc content being shitty, if u were to smoke it "as is."

u can extract the thc with any type of alkane solvent, really (think octane, heptane, butane, etc.)

butane will work, but it evaporated very very quickly, and sometimes it's a pain to use, cause its packaged in those damn canisters...

i would suggest "heptane." and honestly, u can buy this (about a quart's worth for a few bucks) at any crafts, or art supply store...It's marketed under "stain remover" and "paint stain remover" reason being, heptane is a stable liquid at room temp., and it is really very good at dissolving just about any stain, from a stray pen mark, to the Mona Lisa re-painted in King permanent marker...it evaporates quickly, however, and try not to be in a closed room or whatever, b/c the fumes are poison and volatile (as with any alkane solvent) and heptane ignites easier than octane (gasoline), just keep that in mind!!

Now for the process, try to harvest the parts of the plant that u know have the highest thc content...buds would be nice, but for our purposes, focus on the mature leaves, and the planty material surrounding the seed-clumps, where the buds should be...

You will need a lot, but a few seven foot plants are more than enough...I maen, i would honestly say to start with maybe a pound, or a pound and a half...

cut up and dice the leaves and plant material really fine,, and pack it tight in some kind of container that has a couple small holes drilled on the bottom (this is used to collect the oil that comes out)

once it's packed real tight, slowly pour the heptane over the plant material, you'll see some of the stuff absorb right away into the slurry, but that's okay...

be generous w/ the heptane too...once the solvent has passed thru the plant stuff,, you'll see an amber-ish colored liquid in the collection container...this isn't pure thc, but it's the "honey" oil which is still very concentrated...

use your head too, and remember that if u pour a half quart of heptane into the mix, and u end up with close to that amount of liquid, a lot of it is un-evaporated heptane...that's fine, just be sure to give it 24hrs to evaporate completely...

when it evaps off, you'll be left with a sticky, resin-ish type material at the bottom, scrape and there you go!!

Notes: when adding the heptane, put enough in so that all the plant matter gets wet by it...also, don't let it drain out right away--> keep the hep soaking the marijuana for about a half hour or so, *before* u let it start to drain (very important); this ensures that the solvent touched most if not all of the plant matter and u'll have efficient results this way.

-- i cannot stress enough to let that shit evaporate off completely before u use the extract

-- common sense but i have to say it anyway: no smoking anywhere near this shit; as it will burst into flame...

-- wear gloves; the rubber kitchen ones are fine, but u dont want this to absorb into ur skin!

-- be well-ventilated

-- be generous, you can never use too much heptane--worst that'll happen, you will have to wait a little longer for the excess to evaporate

that's about it; and i just want u to be safe, that's why i'm spelling it out, so to speak...:-D

that about covers it! if u cannot get the heptane, by all means follow the exact procedure with butane

[rockbottom]

i made soup with homegrown leaf--not expecting anything--the shit got me seriously fucked up

[Seedy]

^^ Wouldn't you need to dry the plant material first?

[OxyContinuously]

^^ Wouldn't you need to dry the plant material first?

yeah, u should definitely let it dry----either hang it up for a few days, or prepare it, cut it up and everything, but don't treat it w/ the solvent till it's dry...

the drier the better...when it's brittle so that when u touch it it breaks apart-- thats the best time..

[SeVeN]

The drier the better for sure, but I know a guy who use to constantly bud his plants and if he needed he would trim some bud and heat it in the oven. It worked. Just not all that well. But it did work. It wasn't shitty weed though.

[WarmCyanide]

use hash method for shitty weed. seperate veg from crystals put veg in freezer to freeze stigmas so they break offa the veg material. strain DRY through metal coffee filter into glass casserole dish. scrape.... this method works for shit weed and wild weed with very few stigmas. msg me if you need clarification

[Voyager]

Just one tip.
If you wanna extract anyway, use HEXANE !
Becaue it does not leave the toxic residue behind.
It's also used in the aromatherapy extractions when extracting absolutes and resinoids.
So, Hexane would be your best choice.

[roxi*stardust]

use hash method for shitty weed. seperate veg from crystals put veg in freezer to freeze stigmas so they break offa the veg material. strain DRY through metal coffee filter into glass casserole dish. scrape.... this method works for shit weed and wild weed with very few stigmas. msg me if you need clarification


If Papa is talking about that ditch weed I think he is, it's unlikely that there are any trichs (crystals) on those plants. IMO, it's a waste of time.

[Paregoric Kid]

you could brew it as a beer or wine or distill it or just extract it like a tincture. also, if you make sure all the males are killed it will dramatically improve the THC content.

[WarmCyanide]

If Papa is talking about that ditch weed I think he is, it's unlikely that there are any trichs (crystals) on those plants. IMO, it's a waste of time.


the ratio of trichs to vegitation would be pretty low agreed but if you tweaked out and had the time it'd yield. but youre right. it'd be a dinky amount. might as well fuckin buy haha. you'd need ALOT of veg. from what i understand even on the wild shit there are some trichs on female flowers to discourage pests. but at the end of the day i think youre right. one person ive seen (not me) seen trichs on wild herms but males yucccc

Just one tip.
If you wanna extract anyway, use HEXANE !
Becaue it does not leave the toxic residue behind.
It's also used in the aromatherapy extractions when extracting absolutes and resinoids.
So, Hexane would be your best choice.


someone in another lifetime used 99 percent isopropyl since mj is oil before just cause its pharmacy close and just evap in the sun. makes it turn brn though because of any residual chlorophyll bleaches out also slow cooker too. never heard of Hexane good protip!

[Seedy]

Hexane is a propellant, right? I've tried the butane lighter fuel method - hard to explain but from what i recall i got a wire mesh filter from a coffee plunger, filled the hole in the middle with blue-tac, cut off the bottom of a plastic bottle (the same diameter as the wire mesh filter), attached the filter to the inside of the cut off bottle, funneled my powdered weed into the bottle, put the lid on, put a small hole in the lid, then sprayed the butane through the lid (the cut off bottom of the bottle sitting on a saucer). I hope this makes sense because I remember this method working really well. Kind of like making oil with isopropyl but instant results as the butane evaporates pretty much instantly.

[God_Albino]

some guys i know got about 5 lbs of ditchweed and managed to get a decent amount of shitty hash out of it.

they just used a rough ice extraction and are pretty dumb guys, im sure you can figure out something equal to or better to their product. whether its worth your time is the question.

[WarmCyanide]

some guys i know got about 5 lbs of ditchweed and managed to get a decent amount of shitty hash out of it.

.

call me dumb but i just thought trichromes are trichromes. hence no shitty hash?

[SeVeN]

call me dumb but i just thought trichromes are trichromes. hence no shitty hash?

^^Dumb^^^

Edit: I dont know really. But u asked I obliged.

[cracksinthepavement]

This is absolutely possible, you will need a 5-bag set of bubble bags to do a cold water extraction. Dry it all out, crush it up as best you can (remove all large stems and especially the main stem of the plant, get all seeds you can out by shaking the plant just after cutting it down (assuming the seeds are mature). Throw several pounds at a time into a bucket, using the bubble bags, get a paint mixer (connects to an electric drill) and ice, fill bucket with ice, water, material, and mix the hell out of it for 20 minutes. let sit 45 minutes. repeat 3x. Then slowly start pulling out the bags, one at a time, and see the glorious 5-grades of hash you will get. Each bag's hash will be completely different, from tan to green to dark black.

Female plants that have gone to seed are indeed, generally, total shit. This is the ONLY way to get anything from them.

Do not bother doing this with male plants - they are not even worth this much effort. Trust me on this. I have been doing this a long time and consider myself a hash connoisseur - ive travelled to amsterdam 3 times for it(well, not JUST that, but schiphol amsterdam is always my port of entry into europe, and i conveniently stay several days before hopping a train to another country ;) . )

[WarmCyanide]

^^Dumb^^^

Edit: I dont know really. But u asked I obliged.

very funny asshole:D

[Mallinckrodt]

someone in another lifetime used 99 percent isopropyl since mj is oil before just cause its pharmacy close and just evap in the sun. makes it turn brn though because of any residual chlorophyll bleaches out also slow cooker too.

Back when I used to partake in the ganj, and I was smoking entirely too much high quality stuff, I would save all my stems and eventually take isopropyl to them.

I mean all my stems too, even the tiny pieces from right inside the sticky bud and everything. I had a couple buddys saving me some too. I had a few jars around the house and as soon as they were all full, or I was jonesin,' whatever came first, I would soak them in 99% isopropyl. It would yield a good bit of hash actually.

If I were jonesin' bad enough I wouldn't wait to dry it out completely and sometimes I'd smoke it like a gooey oil type hash. Otherwise, dried-out it was nice and pliable and stoney.

About what you were saying with different grades of hash, they do exist. Depending on the method you use and also within particular methods.

For example, someone mentioned those bubble bags, each bag has different size screens and depending on the strain of pot and if it was harvested at the right time, the premium trichome heads will be different sizes.

Theoretically, the best hash is the pure trichome heads, just the heads, when they're at the perfect point for harvest. This is when some of them are just starting to turn opaque. Good growers have a jeweler's loop or some such thing to check the trichomes for harvest. If they're all nice, plump heads but also still clear, they're not quite ready. You don't want to wait until they're all blown up either, it's when just about half of them are starting to turn opaque that most professionals will harvest.

If you've ever perused a High Times or Cannabis Culture you've probably seen the magnified pictures of the trichs, how the bubbled head sits atop that stalk. It is technically all the trichome, but the head is the premium product.

So, what happens when you use the bubble bags with ice water and your trichs are at the right stage, the dried bud or shake or trim or whatever gets ice-cold, freezing the trichome. The trichomes then break off from the plant material and are ready to pass through the different micron screens. When the water passes through the screens--depending on the strain of pot and the corresponding size of trichome--the head, and just the head of the trich passes through one of those screens.

The 'hash' collected from the bag that fits the trich head of your particular strain is then just the nice, full, trichome head (crystal) with all it's THC.

The subsequent collections from the other varying screen sizes collect the rest of the trichome, from the stalk, to some busted heads. The reason the quality starts to vary simply corresponds to the amount of plant material that comes with the trichome pieces through the screens. So after you find the size bag that fits your particular strain, each bag after will have a slightly higher percentage of plant material to trichome, and hence be slightly lower in quality.

The reason the heads are so close to perfect is because no plant material breaks off with it. You can probably picture the rest of the stalk breaking off and the little bit of plant material that comes with it, since the stalk is rooted in the plant.

I just typed way too much.

With other methods of collection, depending on how well they're performed, more or less plant material will remain in the finished product creating hash of varying qualities.